To the Editors of the Crimson:
Writing in the 12 August. 1972 issue of Human Events, Professor William A. Hunter outlines the decline in educational standards. Dr. Hunter, who, until recently, was Professor of Modern Languages at the University of South Florida, says:
"The fashionable notion that the current younger generation is the 'most intelligent' or the 'best informed' in recent history is one that has been repeated so often that it is considered by many to be virtually axiomatic, although it has been convincingly challenged by Karl Shapiro, among others. As for the allegation that it is also the 'most idealistic,' this would be difficult to reconcile with such evidence as:
Unidsputed statistics proving that crime, petty and otherwise, has increased on the campuses at a rate out of proportion to the increase in enrollments:
A willful disregard for the unpredictable effects of narcotics upon the genetic inheritance of future generations:
A callous indifference toward the sanctity of life itself, in spite of constant protestations to the contrary. What else would account for the fact that abortions are now arranged as casually as one might schedule a manicure?
Sexual standards that have, in effect already doomed future genealogical studies to the realm of pure speculation."
Dr. Hunter finds it curious that The Revolt of the Masses, by the Spanish philosopher Jose Ortega y Gasset, has been so long neglected. If our "Progressivists" were to read it, they would find that they are not progressive at all. They are, in fact, "old hat." America is just now experiencing what Spain saw in 1930 and what Russia saw in 1905! Mrs. John R. Fawcett, Jr.
Read more in News
Second Nine Defeats C. L. S.